MICHIGAN CITY, Indiana (AP) -- A severe thunderstorm swept in from Lake Michigan with high winds and large hail, moving docks, scattering lumber across railroad tracks and leaving thousands of homes and businesses without power.

Some injuries were reported in the county, but LaPorte County 911 Assistant Director Beth West said she did not have details.

Coast Guard instruments measured winds of up to 92 mph late Wednesday.

Docks were moved at a Lake Michigan marina where a boat show was scheduled to begin Thursday, but most of the yachts and boats were safely harbored nearby, The News Dispatch reported.

"It was intense. I've never seen anything like it," said Roscoe Serrells of Charlevoix, Michigan, who rode out the storm on a boat.

In Westville, wind scattered a lumber company's entire stack of wood across railroad tracks, West said.

About 22,000 customers lost power, mostly from Gary to about 30 miles east in LaPorte, a utility official said. Trees were down, and crews were faced with repairing many broken utility poles.

Funnel clouds were reported midway between South Bend and Gary, but the National Weather Service was not able to immediately confirm that the storms touched down.

Rainy forecast for pockets of nation

Forecasters predicted showers and thunderstorms Thursday in pockets of the nation from southern New England to the Southwest. The West was to stay clear.

The rains were expected through the Ohio Valley and portions of southern New England. Showers and thunderstorms were expected in the Northern Plains and the Upper Midwest later in the day and evening.

Rain clouds were also expected over coastal Florida and isolated thunderstorms in portions of the Lower Mississippi Valley.

Showers and thunderstorms were expected in the Southwest, while the West Coast states were expected to remain dry.

Temperatures in the Plains were expected to rise into the 90s and 100s and into the 80s and 90s in the Southeast. Much of the Northeast was expected to be in the 60s and 70s. California's Central Valley was expected to see temperatures in the 80s, 90s and some 100s.

Temperatures in the Lower 48 states on Wednesday ranged from a low of 27 degrees at Stanley, Idaho to a high of 121 degrees at Death Valley, California.

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